Tsunami Warning for Washington

BULLETIN
PUBLIC TSUNAMI MESSAGE NUMBER 10
NWS WEST COAST/ALASKA TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER PALMER AK
803 AM PST SAT FEB 27 2010

...A TSUNAMI ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT WHICH INCLUDES THE
COASTAL AREAS OF CALIFORNIA - OREGON - WASHINGTON - BRITISH
COLUMBIA AND ALASKA FROM THE CALIFORNIA-MEXICO BORDER TO
ATTU ALASKA...

A TSUNAMI ADVISORY MEANS THAT A TSUNAMI CAPABLE OF PRODUCING
STRONG CURRENTS OR WAVES DANGEROUS TO PERSONS IN OR VERY NEAR
THE WATER IS IMMINENT OR EXPECTED. SIGNIFICANT WIDESPREAD
INUNDATION IS NOT EXPECTED FOR AREAS UNDER AN ADVISORY.
CURRENTS MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO SWIMMERS... BOATS... AND COASTAL
STRUCTURES AND MAY CONTINUE FOR SEVERAL HOURS AFTER THE
INITIAL WAVE ARRIVAL.

AT 1034 PM PACIFIC STANDARD TIME ON FEBRUARY 26 AN EARTHQUAKE WITH
PRELIMINARY MAGNITUDE 8.8 OCCURRED
NEAR THE COAST OF CENTRAL CHILE.
THIS EARTHQUAKE HAS GENERATED A TSUNAMI WHICH COULD CAUSE DAMAGE
TO REGIONS IN A WARNING OR ADVISORY.
THE WAVES WILL FIRST REACH
LA JOLLA CALIFORNIA AT 002 PM PST ON FEBRUARY 27.
ESTIMATED TSUNAMI ARRIVAL TIMES AND MAPS ALONG WITH SAFETY RULES
AND OTHER INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND ON THE WEB SITE
WCATWC.ARH.NOAA.GOV.

A TSUNAMI HAS BEEN OBSERVED AT THE FOLLOWING SITES

LOCATION LAT LON TIME AMPL
------------------------ ----- ------ ------- -----------
TALCAHUANO C 36.7S 73.1W 0657UTC 1.84M/6.1FT
SAN FELIX CH 26.3S 80.1W 0832UTC 0.81M/2.7FT
CALDERA CHIL 27.1S 70.8W 0746UTC 0.52M/1.7FT
COQUIMBO CHI 29.9S 71.3W 0902UTC 1.27M/4.2FT
IQUIQUE CHIL 20.2S 70.2W 0851UTC 0.30M/1.0FT
ANTOFAGASTA 23.3S 70.4W 0956UTC 0.46M/1.5FT
ANCUD CHILE 41.9S 74.3W 0943UTC 0.34M/1.1FT
CORRAL CHILE 39.9S 73.4W 1012UTC 1.54M/5.1FT
CALLAO LA PUN 12.1S 77.2W 1029UTC 0.66M/2.2FT
BALTRA ECUAD 0.4S 90.3W 1251UTC 0.35M/1.2FT
THE TSUNAMI ADVISORY FOR THE U.S. WEST COAST, BRITISH COLUMBIA,
AND ALASKA INDICATES THAT STRONG CURRENTS ARE EXPECTED AT THE
SHORELINE WITH POTENTIALLY SOME MINOR INUNDATION. PRELIMINARY
TSUNAMI AMPLITUDE FORECASTS AT SELECT POINTS ARE:
LA JOLLA, CA 0.7M/2.3 FT LOS ANGELES, CA 0.6M/2.0 FT
MAILBU, CA 0.8M/2.6 FT PT. SAN LUIS, CA 0.7M/2.3 FT
HALF MOON BAY, CA 0.8M/2.6 FT CRESCENT CITY, CA 0.5M/1.7 FT
PORT ORFORD, OR 0.2M/0.7 FT MORRO BAY, CA 0.7M/2.2 FT
SANTA MONICA, CA 1.0M/3.3 FT

TIME - TIME OF MEASUREMENT
AMPL - TSUNAMI AMPLITUDES ARE MEASURED RELATIVE TO NORMAL SEA LEVEL.
IT IS ...NOT... CREST-TO-TROUGH WAVE HEIGHT.
VALUES ARE GIVEN IN BOTH METERS(M) AND FEET(FT).

TSUNAMIS CAN BE DANGEROUS WAVES THAT ARE NOT SURVIVABLE. WAVE
HEIGHTS ARE AMPLIFIED BY IRREGULAR SHORELINE AND ARE DIFFICULT TO
FORECAST. TSUNAMIS OFTEN APPEAR AS A STRONG SURGE AND MAY BE
PRECEDED BY A RECEDING WATER LEVEL. MARINERS IN WATER DEEPER
THAN 600 FEET SHOULD NOT BE AFFECTED BY A TSUNAMI. WAVE HEIGHTS
WILL INCREASE RAPIDLY AS WATER SHALLOWS. TSUNAMIS ARE A SERIES OF
OCEAN WAVES WHICH CAN BE DANGEROUS FOR SEVERAL HOURS AFTER THE
INITIAL WAVE ARRIVAL. DO NOT RETURN TO EVACUATED AREAS UNTIL AN
ALL CLEAR IS GIVEN BY LOCAL CIVIL AUTHORITIES.

THE PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER IN EWA BEACH HAWAII WILL ISSUE
MESSAGES FOR HAWAII AND OTHER AREAS OF THE PACIFIC OUTSIDE
CALIFORNIA/ OREGON/ WASHINGTON/ BRITISH COLUMBIA AND ALASKA.

THIS MESSAGE WILL BE UPDATED IN 60 MINUTES OR SOONER IF
THE SITUATION WARRANTS. THE TSUNAMI MESSAGE WILL REMAIN
IN EFFECT UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION STAY TUNED
TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO... YOUR LOCAL TV OR RADIO STATIONS... OR SEE
THE WEB SITE WCATWC.ARH.NOAA.GOV.

Dry Creek From the South

Cold Wet Dog on the Pass


I got soaked today! No pictures on my deer cam so I moved it.
I did not get stopped by customs on the way home this time. This trailhead is within 200 miles of the Canadian border so customs can stop anyone on the roads without cause. Last week they made me stop but then let me by when they saw how pale my skin is.

16 miles hike and bike
9.5 miles hiking
6.5 of those miles hiking while pushing bike uphill
3 miles hiking without bike
6.5 miles coasting downhill


Track log in Google Earth


Dog was shivering



Slush and snow


Shoe shot with patches


Patches found some deer bones


Melting snow for tea because I forgot to fill my water bottle


Lake Cushman in the fog from the pass


Fresh snow on Mount Tebo


Decommissioned road


Decommissioned road sign


Break time. My dog is looking for food in my pack.

Yahoo group for Olympic Hikers

This is my 7 year old group for people who like to play in the Olympic Mountains of western Washington. To join the group send a blank message to olyhike-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Green Mountain, goodbye uncle Mark

A sudden and totally unexpected death in the family left me feeling contemplative today. I decided to take it easy and go to Green Mountain in Kistap County. Being in Kitsap brought back a flood of memories, some good, some unspeakable. At the top of the Mountain was a view of both my birthplace and the place where the ashes of my grandparents are spread.

I tried to do a loop with some bushwacking but ran into some "no trespassing" signs so did a road walk until I found a trail. That trail had a sign and the trail turned out to be a memorial for a little girl who died of grief. As if I was not already feeling contemplative!

6 miles RT
1,000 feet elevation gain



























Low Powerline



Low Powerline





end of hike rest spot



Triton Cove

Dry Creek Trail from the South

16 miles hike and bike
9.5 miles hiking
6.5 of those miles hiking while pushing bike uphill
3 miles hiking without bike
6.5 miles coasting downhill


2,500 feet elevation gain
Pushed my bike up 1,600 feet

Mount Rose summit in the winter

I tried to summit Mount Rose last week but I had to turn back because it seemed too dangerous to be up there alone in the snow. This week ADrewzki joined me and we made it to the summit together.

I met up with fellow nwhiker ADrewzki, at the god awful hour of 8am. Ok, well maybe 8am is not so bad, but I’ve been sleeping in a lot this winter. This was my earliest start since my pre-dawn hike up Mount Ellinor. We knew this was going to be a wet trip so we both left our DSLR’s at home and opted to carry point and shoots instead. We started hiking at 9am.


There was more snow on the trail today then there was last week. We put on snowshoes at about 3,500 feet. There was very little sign of my footprints from the week before. I thought I saw some of my dogs tracks though. On the ridge the snow was deep, but it was not snowing, instead we were pelted with sleet.
We had to pick our way through the snow very carefully when we up on the ridge. I was glad that ADrewzki broke the trail and found all the soft spots for me. ADrewzki was happy when he saw the false summit. I never noticed that Mount Rose had a false summit until today when I saw it covered in snow.

It took us 3 hours and 15 minutes to reach the summit at about 12:15. The summit was cold and windy and we did not dare risk venturing out on the snow-covered summit rock. All of my summit pictures are blurry from the rain and sleet. I just could not wipe it off my lens fast enough to take a picture. One problem was that I had nothign to dry it with as all my clothinw was wet and I forgot to pack a bath cloth. We did get a glimpe of the lake below, in spite of the foul conditions. It was too cold to eat lunch on the summit, so we headed back down to horse camp to gulp down our sandwiches in the rain.

We opted to take the longer route both up and back. The trip back was easier because we could follow our tracks. We had to do a fair amount of routefinding on the way up so that we could avoid stepping in voids under the snow such as tree wells and holes next to rocks.

As we headed back down through the forest below the ridge, the trees began bombing us with huge chunks of shedding snow. I am amazed that neither of us got hit. All those tree bombs and the constant rain kept us moving all day.

My rain gear failed, my top and pants were soaked but at least my feet stayed dry, so I was warm enough. When I got home, I was surprised to find that water had gotten under the cover for the USB port on my GPS, that has never happened before. This was one soggy trip!

I left my dog behind and she was not happy when I went out the door with my pack on. When I got back home and walked in the door with my pack on, she went crazy! Poor doggie, I had put her outside until she calmed down.

The news said we got 3/4 of and inch of rain today.

9.2 miles RT
3,400 feet elevation gain
73 miles on my waterproof boots
(once again I avoided getting blisters by wearing super thin dress socks under my regular socks)




Track log


Snow on the ridge


Summit rock, water on my lens




On the ridge



On the summit

Capitol Lake

Capitol Lake is a 3 kilometer long, 260-acre (1.1 km2) artificial lake at the mouth of Deschutes River in Olympia.

Today I had a harrowing journey along the shore of Capitol Lake. There were the usual ducks and stuff but there were also some wild animals and some strange litter.

The bridge is closed so I could not do a loop, instead I had to take a "C" shaped route. I parked my car in the middle of my track log. I walked along one side until I got to the trail closed sign then I walked back past my car and down the road side and turned around at the bathrooms. Then I went back to the trail closed side a second time. I like the side closest to the capital building because there was less auto exhaust to breath on that side..


Trail Closed

3.8 miles round trip
33 feet elevation gain (only because the barometric pressure was changing)
Average Moving Speed 4 MPH (running from bears and stuff)
This hike was a "4" on the hike difficulty calculator

Track Log



Elevation Profile Log



Odd Litter



Brown Bear




Pack Stealing Primate



12X's zoom on Primate